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Panic in the parish! The General Synod of the Church of England met this week to discuss whether women should be allowed to become bishops. Women have been allowed to become priests for 20 years, but becoming bishop was still a bridge too far. Time for change, according to some. If women can become priests, why not bishops? Not everyone welcomed the idea. Opponents suggested that parishes who object to women bishops would be able to send a Letter of Request asking that they be placed under the care of a male bishop. Nonsense, said the progressives. We either welcome women or we don’t. The Synod didn’t reach an agreement, but decided to adjourn the debate “to lower the temperature”. Well, better switch on that AC, I’d say!
According to Vatican journalist Lucetta Scaraffia, there is actual misogyny within the Church. “Clerics are afraid that when women start playing a role, there will be no more room for them.”
I’ve never understood why some religious organisations have been so terrified to allow women into their ranks. Wasn’t Mary the Mother of God? And without a Mother of God, no God, right?
Or is all of this still because of that thing with Eve and the apple? Seems to me that whole incident is statute-barred by now, anyway. And besides, wasn’t it Jesus himself who said “forgive and you shall be forgiven”?
Speaking about Jesus, a religious friend of mine once told me, that with every important decision, he asks himself and others: what would Jesus do? Seems to me that would be a great place to start for the General Synod of the Church of England. What would Jesus do? My guess: he’d say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.